Palestinian director Rashid Mashharawi documented his own experience during the siege imposed by the Corona pandemic, using a phone camera.

In Paris, and specifically on Gabriel Street where he lives, Mashharawi presented a human experience as a director, producer, photographer and editor as well. It can be said that the film - which participated in the Arab Cinema Horizons competition in the 43rd session of the Cairo Film Festival - the Palestinian director was able, at a very low cost, to document a different and human experience through it. , to ensure that creativity is not difficult.

Integrated components at low cost

Mashharawi made all the details of the film, and he said in his statements - on the sidelines of the symposium that followed the screening of the film at the Cairo Festival - that there was no clear scenario at the beginning, and it depended on filming with a phone that he owned only, which adds creative richness to the idea that depends on documenting and recording diaries. Especially, the use of the phone's camera did not diminish the aesthetics of the image in the film, which is one of the distinguishing elements of "Diary of Gabriel Street".

Mashharawi presented the integrated elements of the film, whether the montage he made on his personal computer, or the script with the rich flowing scenes, as he chose the characters he presented with meticulous care to explain the crisis that affected the world due to the siege due to "Covid-19", and how it affected human life, while comparing that In a sarcastic manner, the Palestinian situation.

Palestinian film in France

Mashharawi took advantage of the situation imposed on him by the Corona virus, with France closing its borders and deploying the police in the streets, so that he and the residents of Gabriel Street are trapped in the Montmartre neighborhood in the French capital, Paris, to compare this to the siege that the Palestinians live every day in their country, so that the whole world shares that suffering with the Palestinians. , which he expressed in the phrase, “Suddenly we all become one, and because of the virus.”

However, when the closure ends, all the stranded will return to the homeland, "the homeland is sometimes necessary", as Masharawi commented in his voice in "The Diaries of Gabriel Street", expressing the long years of suffering of the Palestinian people without any end, and despite the filming of the entire film on Gabriel Street in France, it It is a purely Palestinian experience.

Palestinian director Rashid Mashharawi (communication sites)

Merge and compare

A clever comparison by Mashharawi, who linked it to merging scenes from his previous films in Palestine, which added a different temporal dimension to the film, such as scenes of police cars in the streets of Paris, and the movement restrictions that were imposed, and between scenes of a curfew in Palestine, and he expressed it with the sentence "The curfew in Paris is 5 stars compared to curfew in Palestine”, while in Paris it is necessary to submit a request to the local authority to explain the reason for the exit, there is the suffering of the Palestinians on their land to obtain permits to pass through the security barriers.

Another clever comparison made by Mashharawi when he began documenting the wearing of masks after a period of the spread of the epidemic and the use of the Palestinian keffiyeh, not only to prevent tear gas bombs, but also is a way for Palestinians to hide from the Israeli army to avoid arrests.

Poster for the movie "Diary of Gabriel Street" (communication sites)

From subjectivity to different cultures

The duration of the film is only 62 minutes, but in addition to documenting his personal experience, Mashharawi presented his neighbors belonging to different cultures, both his neighbor who came to search for a job opportunity leaving his wife in Morocco, but decided to return to his homeland once the siege was lifted, and his Greek neighbor who lives with his girlfriend The Spaniard, and his 95-year-old neighbor, Paulette, whom the doctor advises to walk daily to live, so her daily treatment journey becomes her way to the grocery store in front of the building in which they live until she contracts Corona and leaves without farewell due to the epidemic, while he decided to dedicate the film to her soul as an expression of his love she has.

Mashharawi documents in the film - whose filming lasted 18 months - how the characters developed with different cultures and ages, due to the siege imposed by Corona, and how it affected their lives and decisions. Between him and his neighbors in the building in which he lives.

the dream

This human inclusion in the film and the exclusive subjective experience of a Palestinian director stuck in Paris - specifically on Gabriel Street - through which Mashharawi revealed the suffering of the Palestinians who were robbed of their homeland and identity, but also confirms that the occupation has not robbed them of the spirit of creativity and dream.